I also asked my fitness coach why he is having me do 3 working sets of 8 reps with increasing weights each time, and he said "From progressively increasing sets you can give your body differing stimuli (more speed with lower weight) and more unit recruitment with higher weight."

I think I understand what he's getting at but couldn't a similar effect be achieved by having heavy days and then seperate volume days at lower weights? I'm not sure if that would have the same effect or which method would be more effective in gaining strength and size. Anyways just thought I'd share with you guys since I got an answer.

I'm not going to get into this, but pretty much anything works on an untrained/deconditioned person.

P90X and Insanity and so on "work" because if you go from sitting on your ass/doing no conditioning work to doing 1hr (or whatever the fuck) of conditioning and light resistance training per day, obviously you're going to get some body composition changes, even if everything else remains equal.

But the guys you see in the videos didn't get looking like that by doing the program they're demonstrating/selling. Crossfit guys like Froning don't get to looking like that by doing the official Crossfit WOD, either. Also they aren't natty, so it's p. deceptive for the organization to hold them up as something that is achievable by the average Joe if he just does Crossfit, or P90x, or Insanity, or whatever. This goes for basically any form of exercise or "program" that involves money exchanging hands, so I'm not trying to single any one of them out.

I'm not going to get into this, but pretty much anything works on an untrained/deconditioned person.

P90X and Insanity and so on "work" because if you go from sitting on your ass/doing no conditioning work to doing 1hr (or whatever the fuck) of conditioning and light resistance training per day, obviously you're going to get some body composition changes, even if everything else remains equal.

But the guys you see in the videos didn't get looking like that by doing the program they're demonstrating/selling. Crossfit guys like Froning don't get to looking like that by doing the official Crossfit WOD, either. Also they aren't natty, so it's p. deceptive for the organization to hold them up as something that is achievable by the average Joe if he just does Crossfit, or P90x, or Insanity, or whatever. This goes for basically any form of exercise or "program" that involves money exchanging hands, so I'm not trying to single any one of them out.

But "muscle confusion" is just marketing buzzwords.

What's the difference though?

It works. Period. Going from sitting on your ass to being in shape. It doesn't matter how you do it if you feel better about yourself after

And rich froning.. why wouldn't be natty? He's only 5'9 190.. I mean honestly.. he's been lifting and doing crossfit for years with A LOT of intense training.. There isn't a reason he couldn't get in the shape he's in natty.

Well first, in any competitive sport, there's going to be PED use at the world-class level. Literally every single one. When there's that much money on the line, you'd be stupid not to. Even bowlers and ping pong players at that level are known to use them. I am not taking any ethical stance on this, and frankly, it's so widespread I'd rather people just do it too instead of whine about how it's cheating.

In Froning's case, it's certainly possible he's able to maintain what is basically peak potential lean mass for his frame (for a natty), at that fairly low BF%, while still being able to train and recover adequately enough to win competitions, but it's exceedingly unlikely. The body can simply only support so much protein synthesis naturally, and long workouts are catabolic on their own. Sure, he could get there natty and maybe maintain it for a while (year round tho? prob not), but lettuce romaine cereal here.

Again, I don't care that he does it, but it is somewhat misleading and given how costly it can be, I wish there were more honesty about it. Tbh, the legal status of PEDs in this country needs some serious revamping, because there are so many health benefits to testosterone supplementation beyond winning baseball championships, but doctors are afraid to prescribe even a dose so low it's literally barely more effective than placebo.

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What's the difference though?

It works. Period. Going from sitting on your ass to being in shape. It doesn't matter how you do it if you feel better about yourself after

Mostly the ethics of trading bullshit for money. Like I said, it works, but not for the reasons they say. And when one inevitably outgrows the programs, if all they know is the nonsense they heard in the videos, they are going to be lost and likely backslide.